Luke Parry - apprenticeship case study 

I joined Invotra in November 2012 studying a Level 3 Software Development apprenticeship. I applied for an apprenticeship through QA ltd who introduced me to Invotra (iO1 at the time).

I knew that university wasn’t for me, as the idea of learning whilst working always appealed much more. At sixth form, I had studied Computing and Applied ICT and always had a keen interest in computers. I worked at McDonalds for all of two weeks straight after sixth form but quickly decided I wanted a career change!

When I started at iO1, I was in the testing team for the first 6 months of my apprenticeship before moving onto site building and eventually leading the technical implementation of websites for multiple customers. When Invotra was born, I moved into the software architecture team. 

My role has been technical since I started but I have worked in various other areas, including QA, Business Analysis, DevOps and Architecture, all of which have been beneficial in helping me understand all areas of the organisation and product.

Now my day to day responsibilities include ensuring that the current architecture is sustainable for our customers’ user base, improving the architecture as new features and requirements are added and looking for new ways to develop the architecture to keep up to date with the latest technology

I am currently studying a level 4 apprenticeship in cyber security. I have being doing this for a year now. I’m excited and interested to learn much more about security in general, it is becoming an ever more prevalent topic and it seems like people understand the need for security now more than ever. This was the main reason I chose cyber security over the other course options.

Once I finish the level 4 course, I’m keen to keep learning and developing my skills and knowledge. My end goal is to manage my own team. 

Everyone at Invotra has been incredibly helpful. Since day one, I have been surrounded by intelligent and experienced people who are more than happy to help people reach their goals and gain knowledge.